Income Tax Information

Who needs to file taxes?

All F- and J-status students/scholars (and their dependents living with them) are required to file tax forms each year in the U.S.—regardless of whether or not they earned income. Failure to do so could result in a violation of your immigration status.

If you did earn money while working here, filing a tax form could mean a refund.

Resident and Non-Resident Filing

F-1 status individuals living in the U.S. for more than any part of five calendar years must file as a resident. J-1 scholars having been in the U.S. for more than any part of two calendar years must also file as a resident. All others file as non-residents. Click Non-Resident Alien Filing for details.

Students who receive a UST scholarship should wait to file their tax returns until they receive a 1042-S form from the UST payroll office, please contact the payroll office directly if you have not received it.

Filing Deadline

April 15 of each year is the United States tax-filing deadline. All forms must be postmarked on or before that date. This year's deadline is April 15 (Wed), 2015.

State form M1 and a copy of your Federal forms 1040NR-EZ and 8843 must be mailed to: Minnesota Individual Income Tax St. Paul, MN 55145-0010

Filing Process

Sign up for FREE GLACIER Tax Prep filing software by emailing oiss@stthomas.edu in order to easily prepare your Federal income tax forms. Additional information will be emailed to students with their tax codes. This software is available only to UST F-1/J-1 students, F-1 students on OPT, J-1 scholars, and the dependents of the aforementioned.

If you earned income or received a room and board scholarship, you will also need to file a Minnesota Form M1 (Tips to file MN Form M1) for state income tax.

To assist with your State Tax preparation, University of St.Thomas has facilitated access to an online tax preparation software tool called Sprintax. For details, please email oiss@stthomas.edu or contact us at 651-962-6650.

Social Security and Medicare Refunds

According to Section 3121(b)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code, an exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes applies to nonimmigant students, scholars, teachers, researchers, and trainees who are temporarily present in the U.S. in F, J, M, or Q status, as long as they remain nonresidents for federal income tax purposes, as determined by Section 7701(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. This exemption also applies to any period in which a foreign student is engaged in on-campus employment, practical training or other Immigration authorized employment. Students may be eligible to be exempt for up to five years, scholars for up to two years. Should the student/scholar change status to H-1 or another visa status, the student would immediately become subject to these taxes. F & J visa holders are still required to pay all applicable federal, state and local income taxes as defined by law.

If these taxes were deducted from your paycheck, and you are exempt (as defined above), you must first try to get a refund from your employer.

If your employer is unable to provide a refund, you must file Form 843 Claim for Refund ( Sample 843) and Form 8316 ( Sample 8316)and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0125.

Filing Terminology

W-2: a form from your employer(s) which lists the income you received the previous calendar year

1098-T: a general tuition statement indicating the amount of tuition you paid the previous year; non-resident aliens cannot deduct education credits and should ignore this form

1099INT: a form indicating any interest earned in the previous year on your checking or savings accounts; you do not need to report this on your taxes and can therefore ignore this form

1099-MISC: if you were listed by your employer(s) as a contractor or consultant, you may receive this form in place of a W-2; it serves the same function